


The Valentine's Day Haters Club

by Mikauzoran



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up (20), Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Idiotic Identity Reveal, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Misunderstandings, Movie Night, Mutual Pining, Pining, Plagg Is So Done (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg is MVP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikauzoran/pseuds/Mikauzoran
Summary: Marinette and Chat Noir had planned on spending the day licking each other’s wounds and conscientiously objecting to the holiday together. No one anticipated the identity reveal and the love confessions.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 71
Kudos: 337





	The Valentine's Day Haters Club

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you very much for taking a look at this story. I’m Mikau, and it’s nice to meet you. Welcome to newcomers, and thank you to old friends who have decided to come back for more. ^.^
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story.
> 
> Shameless plug for my [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/). <3

“Valentine’s Day is dumb,” Chat Noir grumbled as he reached across Marinette to grab another handful of popcorn.

Because he really liked popcorn, mind you. _Not_ because it gave him an excuse to lean in and brush against her fuzzy yellow sweater, feel a hint of her warmth, and catch the scent of her body wash.

He just liked popcorn. He wasn’t desperate or anything. He hadn’t slowly fallen in love over the years with his painfully sweet, clever, beautiful classmate.

He had learned his lesson the first time not to fall in love with girls who were light years out of his league.

At least…he _should_ have learned, but…

“Mmhm,” Marinette agreed sullenly, her eyes not leaving the TV screen where [Buttercup and Westley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_\(film\)) were making their way through the Fire Swamp.

“Like, worst holiday ever,” he muttered, scooting in closer and surreptitiously resting his arm along the back of the couch.

He held his breath, waiting to see if she’d notice and call him out on it.

She didn’t. She just sighed, “Yeah. I mean, besides getting chocolate…if you have anyone to give you chocolate in the first place.”

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod, inching his arm forward incrementally until it was actually around her shoulders. “You know, in Japan, on Valentine’s Day, the girls are the ones who give the guys chocolate, and then, a month later, on March fourteenth, there’s a holiday called White Day, and the guys who got chocolate on Valentine’s Day have to give everyone who gave them chocolate some in return.”

Marinette hummed thoughtfully, her mood seeming to lighten just a bit. “How does it work for same-sex couples, then? Or, can, like, a guy give another guy chocolate? Can a girl give chocolate to another girl?”

Chat Noir bit his lip. “Uh…the literature leads me to believe that that can happen, but it’s kind of more private due to the comparatively conservative nature of the culture.”

Marinette turned her head to look at him then, her eyebrow raised and a lopsided smirk tipping up the left corner of her mouth. “The ‘literature’, huh? You mean manga?”

Chat averted his gaze, cheeks burning as he tried not to think about how close her face was to his. “Manga is a legitimate source of knowledge,” he pouted.

“Nerd,” she teased, but the words held no sting as she snuggled back against him.

He nearly died of happiness. Maybe this was just friendly cuddling like she did with Alya, but at least she felt comfortable enough with him to cuddle.

“You know, I hear that in Korea, there’s a holiday on April fourteenth called Black Day where the people who didn’t get any chocolate wear black,” he informed softly.

“Oh, yeah? I guess you’re already dressed for the occasion,” she chuckled.

Her laughter stopped abruptly as a thought occurred to her: “Did anyone give you chocolate today?” she asked with more urgency than he thought the topic deserved. She made it sound like a point of vital importance.

He shrugged. “I mean…yeah. Some girls gave me chocolates.”

Some guys had too, both as Adrien and Chat Noir.

Marinette seemed to deflate at the revelation. “Oh. Yeah. Duh. Of course they did.”

He turned his head to look at her curiously, studying her face for her reaction. “I didn’t get anything from the person I wanted, though,” he added softly.

She just nodded, attention seeming to go back to the movie.

His brow crumpled into a dissatisfied frown.

He wasn’t sure what he had expected. It wasn’t really reasonable of him to want her to get jealous and demand to know from whom he’d wanted to receive chocolates. He was probably just kidding himself.

Then again, his heart couldn’t help but backflip in joy when she snuggled even closer and rested her head on his shoulder.

He tipped his head to the side, resting it against hers and nearly giving a purr of contentment.

He loved the softness of her hair as it pressed against his cheek, and the subtle strawberry scent of her shampoo made him feel so relaxed, so at ease. He could almost just close his eyes and float away.

Marinette had come to be many things to him over the years of their friendship, but, most importantly, she was warmth and security and home when he felt lost and couldn’t find his moorings.

“Valentine’s Day sucks,” Marinette sighed softly, a quiet, resigned regret lacing her voice. “Even if you took out the back-to-back akumas that always seem to occur today…Valentine’s Day is still the worst. I can understand why so many people give into despair and get akumatized today.”

“…Feeling a little bitter, Princess?” he hummed concernedly.

She shrugged. “Maybe a little. I don’t know. _You_ started the hate-on-Valentine’s-Day fest.”

“I did,” he confirmed, “but I wasn’t really all that serious. I’m a little sulky, but _you_ sound like you’ve been personally wronged.”

She shrugged again. “Not…really. Just…kind of reflecting on my ill-fated love life. I have some regrets.”

“Yeah. I hear you,” he encouraged, giving her a supportive squeeze.

“Like, there are these two guys,” she attempted to explain, feeling the sudden urge to get it off her chest. “I was so stupid in love with the one for the longest time that I couldn’t even tell him properly that I loved him, and the other one was in love with me, but I kept turning him down for the first guy, but then I fell really hard for the second guy, but the timing was wrong, and I have to keep him at a distance because things are complicated, so we can’t be together, even if I _do_ return his feelings now, and there’s still the first guy who I can’t get over, so…ugh.”

She finished with a groan, slumping against him.

He happily supported her weight, holding her up. “Yeah,” he repeated gently, reaching up to pet her hair. “Love’s rough.”

He tried not to think too hard about the details of what she had said, lest he go insane. His mind automatically wanted to fill in names: Luka? Nathaniel? Kim?

Could Chat Noir be in the running? She’d confessed to him once years ago, but he’d gone and screwed that up for himself (an act for which he was _still_ kicking himself to this day). Could he be lucky enough to be the first guy whom she still couldn’t get over?

He tried to snap himself out of it and come back to the present moment where the woman he loved was there in his arms. It would do him no good to dabble in “what if”s. He should just be happy with what he already had because it was such a blessing.

“At least I can take comfort in the fact that the person I like isn’t out on a date right now,” he decided to fish, willing her to ask the identity of the person so that he could confess his love and sweep her off her feet and start their happily ever after.

At the same time, he was terrified of her putting him on the spot like that because he was almost certain that she would look at him with pity and inform him that she was in love with that Javier guy from her graphic design class or something.

Neither scenario came to pass because, instead, Marinette snickered, “How do you know Ladybug doesn’t have a hot date tonight?”

He pulled back to look down at her, and he probably resembled a carp with the way his mouth kept opening and closing stupidly.

Marinette looked away, ruefully snorting, “Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure Adrien is having a lovely evening with Lila.”

Chat gave a startled jerk. “Whoa. Wait. What? Adrien? Adrien _who_?”

“Agreste,” she grumbled.

“Agreste,” he repeated, brain completely scrambled. “…Sorry. Why are we talking about Adrien Agreste? I’m sorry. I must have zoned out at some point or something.”

Marinette laughed joylessly. “Adrien Agreste is guy number one.”

“Oh my gosh,” he gasped, nearly choking on the words as he forgot how to breathe. “Oh my gosh. Seriously?”

Marinette nodded glumly. “Yep. Please don’t tease me. I already know it’s hopeless,” she informed, sounding miserable. “We can joke about it and laugh at me later, but I can’t take it right now. I’ll burst into tears, so…”

“Marinette, I would _never_ tease you,” he swore, twisting on the couch to face her and taking her hand in both of his.

She blinked at him, taken aback by the earnest intensity in his eyes.

“So…let me get this straight…” He swallowed hard and tried to remain calm as his heart ran a marathon inside of his chest. “You like…You… _love_? Adrien Agreste?”

Marinette nodded demurely. “I’ve been in love with Adrien almost since I met him.”

“Oh, wow,” he breathed, struggling to keep his wits about him.

The dazed feeling immediately left him when he remembered an earlier part of their conversation. “Wait. You think he’s on a date with _Lila_ right now?!”

She kept nodding. “I mean, I saw them both earlier today at my internship. After the photoshoot, Lila blew Adrien a kiss and said—rather suggestively, the minx—” Marinette grumbled and then switched to a mocking tone as she parroted Lila, “‘I’ll see you later, My Prince’. What else could that mean if not that they have a date scheduled tonight?”

Marinette sounded so sure of herself that it made Chat sick.

“No,” he snorted indignantly, insulted by how little she seemed to think of his taste in women. “Absolutely not. She probably just meant…like…‘see you later’. As in ‘some other time’. Tomorrow. Next week. They have another photoshoot on the sixteenth. Maybe that’s what she meant, but what she did _not_ mean was ‘See you for our date tonight’,” he insisted hotly.

Marinette did not look convinced.

“Adrien would _not_ date Lila,” he repeated. “Just how little do you think of this guy you’re in love with?”

She shrugged, looking away. “I didn’t _think_ he would ever date her, but…I don’t know, Chat Noir. The way she said it…it sounded like they had plans.”

“No,” he reiterated. “He is not with Lila. Call him right now and see for yourself.”

It took a beat for the absurdity of his utterance to sink in.

“Wait,” he groaned. “Don’t call him. He’s busy. He can’t pick up right now.”

Marinette’s eyebrow slowly inched upwards in suspicion. “How do you know what he’s doing right now? Got his schedule memorized?”

“Because I _am_ Adrien,” he admitted in desperation.

She blinked at him.

“I _am_ Adrien, and I’m desperately in love with you, Marinette.” He dropped his transformation and gazed at her with pleading eyes. “I love _you_ , and there is absolutely nothing going on between me and Lila, despite whatever she might want everyone to believe.”

Marinette’s reaction was not within the realm of Adrien’s expectations.

He wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d laughed or screamed or cried or threw her arms around him.

But what Adrien got was a throw pillow in the face.

“You idiot!” she yelled, hitting him with the throw pillow again. “You can’t just reveal your identity to some random girl just because you’re in love with her! How irresponsible are you?! I thought you’d grown up and matured over the years. What the hell is wrong with you?!” she demanded hysterically, internally panicking at a fifty to one ratio with her outward panicking.

“It was an emergency!” Adrien pleaded indignantly in self-defence, snatching the pillow away from her. “You thought I was dating _Lila_!”

Marinette let out a moan of despair, gripping at her hair with both hands as she shook her head, unable to believe this was happening. “Ugh. Plagg, how could you let him detransform like that?”

Plagg shrugged, perching on the back of the couch. “I don’t see what the big deal is. I long ago stopped finding the identity shenanigans cute. Tikki, do _you_ think that this is a big deal?”

All the colour drained out of Marinette’s face.

Adrien frowned, blinking in bewilderment at his kwami. “Tikki? Why is Tikki…?”

He paused, head slowly turning to take in Marinette in a new light as realization dawned on him. “…My Lady?”

Marinette groaned, covering her face with her hands.

Tikki came out of the pillow nest Marinette had made for her at the end of the couch to glare battle axes at Plagg. “I am going to kill you.”

Plagg shrugged unconcernedly. “You can certainly try, but you haven’t managed it yet.”

“Oh wow,” Adrien breathed, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more amazing, Marinette.”

She peeked through her fingers at him, momentarily distracted from her catastrophizing spiral. “Really? You think so?”

He nodded, a lovesick grin quickly spreading across his lips. “Definitely. I mean…are you kidding me? You and Ladybug are the most epic human beings I know. If you’re the same person…” He shook his head in amazement. “I am absolutely in awe of you.”

Her hands slid down to her cheeks, trying to cover her blush even as she smiled so wide her face began to hurt. “Oh…wow,” she giggled, feeling a rush of delight.

His grin quickly disappeared, replaced by a worried frown as he asked urgently, “Me being Chat Noir doesn’t change how you feel about Adrien does it?”

Marinette gave a start, shaking her head vehemently. “No! No, Chaton. Not at all. I mean…the two guys I told you about that I’m in love with…Adrien is the first guy, and Chat Noir is the second,” she informed bashfully, a shy smile tugging at her lips.

“Oh,” he repeated, struck dumb yet again by joy at his good fortune. “Oh, good,” he laughed giddily.

She nodded, slipping her hands back into his. “I originally turned down Chat Noir because I was in love with Adrien, but then I really fell for Chat Noir, only we couldn’t be together because of secret identities and my Guardian duties.”

Suddenly the reality of their situation came rushing back to her, and she groaned yet again as the panic returned. “Oh, what are we going to do? Our identities are compromised. What if Papillon—”

“—Shh,” he cut her off, bringing a finger to rest on her lips. “It’s okay, Princess. Everything is going to be fine. I can keep a secret.”

She clicked her tongue and pursed her lips. “Except, apparently, from people you’re in love with.”

Adrien shrugged. “That’s a pretty good track record, considering I’ve only ever been in love with one person.”

That got the hint of a soft smile out of her.

“Come on, Buguinette,” he coaxed, giving her hands a squeeze. “We can figure this out. We’ll be all right so long as we’re in this together.”

“…Yeah,” she whispered, slowly coming around. “We’re a team. We can…We can do this.”

He nodded encouragingly. “It’s going to be okay. I’ve got your back, and I know you have mine.”

She took a deep breath, squeezing his hands in return. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s going to be okay.”

They sat there for a minute, unspeaking, soaking up the moment and recentering themselves after revelation upon revelation left their minds spinning.

“So…you love me?” Marinette inquired with a coy smile, seeking to verify that she hadn’t dreamed it all up.

She knew the answer as soon as she asked. She could see the love and adoration in his eyes.

Still, it was nice to hear it out loud.

He nodded enthusiastically. “I love you so much…. And you love me?”

“Desperately,” she laughed, inching closer.

He hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad after all.”

“No,” she hastily corrected. “Today still sucks. This holiday is completely unsalvageable, and, if anyone asks, it’s not our anniversary. Our anniversary is _tomorrow_ because tomorrow I’m going to waylay you after your improv class and confess my eternal love and ask you to be my boyfriend.”

She was so insistent that he couldn’t bring himself to argue. He wanted to laugh at how adorable she was when she had her mind set on something like that, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate it.

Instead, he smiled and shrugged. “As My Lady wishes…provided we can still kiss before we officially start dating?”

He arched an eyebrow tentatively.

“Oh, yes. Definitely,” she assured, pushing him down on the couch and kissing him breathless.

He had no complaints.

The

End

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did you think? I just got this idea in my head the other week that I should do a Valentine’s Day story, and this is what I came up with. It’s purely indulgent, so I hope you enjoyed it. XD
> 
> I think my favourite part was when Chat was so flummoxed when Marinette started talking about “Adrien”, and Chat was like, “Adrien? Adrien who? How many Adriens does she know? Because she can’t possibly be talking about me”. Did you have a favourite part or a line that you liked or a part that made you laugh? I hope there was something that made you smile.
> 
> I feel like it seems that Marinette gets over her identity being exposed rather quickly, but rest assured that she’s just kind of swept up in the moment at this point. She’ll have successive freak-outs later, and there will be many times when Adrien has to talk her down from her panic and reassure her. I didn’t go into it more or make it more realistic here because I just wanted this to be a short, fluffy piece, so there wasn’t space to delve into it, and the tone didn’t match the kind of ending I wanted. So I’m putting this endnote here to let you know that this isn’t the end of their discussions about the reveal and their safety going forward. They’ll seriously talk about it later, but that’s outside the scope of this piece. It was something I thought about, though.
> 
> Anyway. Thank you very much for reading, guys. Let me know what you thought because I could use something to lift my spirits. Valentine’s Day is always so disheartening and lonely for me, and I’m having a rough week on top of that. If you’re feeling lonely too, know that you’re not alone. I’m right there with you.
> 
> I would like to send a special “take care” to all of the people in Japan affected by the earthquake several hours ago. It’s times like this that I worry about the students I taught there and my friends while I was studying abroad there for university whom I’ve since fallen out of touch with. I hope you’re all safe.
> 
> Take care, everyone.
> 
> Come follow me on [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/).
> 
> References:  
> The Princess Bride: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film)


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